ESPN’s Lou Holtz, in his most recent “Dr. Lou” segment, is asked a question.
By unsigned 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree.
Seriously.
Says Crabtree, “Dr. Lou, what advice do you give players when dealing with an agent?”
Says Lou, “Oh, Michael, am I glad you asked. You’re the best receiver in the country last year and you’re drafted in the first round by San Francisco. And you’re the only player that hasn’t signed a contract. Obviously, your agent is worried about dollars. Michael, you worry about sense. As in common sense.
“That agent works for you, you do not work for him. He’s gonna make millions of dollars when you sign your contract.”
So what does Dr. Lou advise, as a general rule?
He thinks a player shouldn’t hire an agent, and that the player initially should get the best offer they can from the team that drafts him. Then, the player should tell an agent that the player will give the agent half of anything more that the agent can get.
You know, we always assumed that Lou Holtz overcame his thufferin’ thuccotash thpeaking thtyle by conveying through the thpittle true pearlth of withdom.
But this is the one of the dumbest freaking things we’ve ever heard.
Apart from the obvious violations that the agent would be committing as to the rules limiting the fee to a maximum of three percent of the total value of the deal, Dr. Lou’s suggestion reflects a high degree of naivete regarding the business realities of the modern NFL.
We’ve got our own advice for Crabtree, and we’ll post it on Saturday.
Hey, we’ve got to do something to try to get you to pay us a visit when you’re on your own time.
Are you freakin kidding me!?, Lou,-come on man!~
“Obviously, your agent is worried about dollars. Michael, you worry about sense. As in common sense.
“That agent works for you, you do not work for him. He’s gonna make millions of dollars when you sign your contract.”
I’d say he’s lost only half his mind. He is right that Crabtree’s agent is only worried about how much he is going to make off Crabtree. Also that the agent works for Crabtree, and that Crabtree needs to get some sense knocked back into him.
Its pretty simple actually. Either man up and sign the contract with the Niners or be a bytchboi and sit out the year!
I don’t see why this is a bad idea. Incentivize the agent to get the marginal dollars. This type of deal happens in higher end real estate. The 3% margin limit is not a significant issue – just cap the comp at 3% of the total deal.
I disagree with Floria here but first I should point out two facts regarding my stance.
1) I’m not a lawyer
2) I’m for the abolition of all lawyers. Or at least most of them, preferably through some stoning ritual involving really large rocks.
Florio says:
“Apart from the obvious violations that the agent would be committing as to the rules limiting the fee to a maximum of three percent of the total value of the deal.”
This is an easy fix. The agreement between the player and the agent could be worded in such a way that the agent receives 50% of all monies ABOVE what the player was able to negotiate BUT not to exceed 3% of the total deal.
In other words, if the agent is truly worth his weight in gold and does significantly better than the player could do himself, he gets paid out exactly how he does now.
But if the agent proves incapable of providing any significant improvements to the deal negotiated, thereby proving that that is presence has little to no value, he gets paid the way someone of little to no value should get paid. In other words, he’ll get paid his worth in gold either way.
Then when its all done, maybe we can throw the gold at him instead of the rocks. I wonder if that would count as a “golden shower”.
);p
I disagree with Floria here but first I should point out two facts regarding my stance.
1) I’m not a lawyer
2) I’m for the abolition of all lawyers. Or at least most of them, preferably through some stoning ritual involving really large rocks.
Florio says:
“Apart from the obvious violations that the agent would be committing as to the rules limiting the fee to a maximum of three percent of the total value of the deal.”
This is an easy fix. The agreement between the player and the agent could be worded in such a way that the agent receives 50% of all monies ABOVE what the player was able to negotiate BUT not to exceed 3% of the total deal.
In other words, if the agent is truly worth his weight in gold and does significantly better than the player could do himself, he gets paid out exactly how he does now.
But if the agent proves incapable of providing any significant improvements to the deal negotiated, thereby proving that his presence has little to no value, he gets paid the way someone of little to no value should get paid. In other words, he’ll get paid his worth in gold either way.
Then when its all done, maybe we can throw the gold at him instead of the rocks. I wonder if that would count as a “golden shower”.
);p
Back to the draft Crabby…….. You need yo’ Money!
Lou Holtz wrote fights songs for the Jets and forced his players to sing them in 1976. It seems even with all the advances in medicine he has not gotten any better in the last 33 years. Besides being a horrible coach he is nuts. Is there any chance Eric Mangini is Holtz’s long lost son? That might explain many things about Mangini’s poor coaching and odd behavior.
Crabtree is a tool, I hope he never plays a snap in the NFL.
Hey, we’ve got to do something to try to get you to pay us a visit when you’re on your own time.
—————
Highlight some NFL players that do charity work aside from taking bastard kids to breakfast. You have a crime blotter, maybe try a positive spin. A few teams websites list non-profits ran by players if you want a few easy ones to start with.
You can always do the usual and post a favre/vick article too. Did your Cowboy video board article today.
I just happened to be watching when I saw this. Wow, what a piece of work Holtz is. He obviously doesn’t think about what he says before he says it. And I hate wiping all that spit off the inside of my TV screen.
Its likely this was taped before the draft:
http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers/2009/09/crabtree-surfaces-or-does-he.html
“Through video evidence, it appears the segment for the “Ask Dr. Lou” segment was taped before the draft during his visit to the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn. Notice in this pre-draft segment that Crabtree – a man you won’t see wearing the same threads twice – is wearing the same Ralph Lauren Polo shirt and the same watch.”
“In other words, that segment with Crabtree appears to be taped five months ago.”
you posted this at midnight on a Friday. it doesn’t get more “our time” then this.
God forbid!
How could anyone possible suggest that a lawyer not get his cut.
F’n Hog Farmers!
Lou Holtz = Granny Clampett on moonshine
I can’t stand these agents and the way they prey on young and old talent to make a buck. At the same time, without these guys, the teams would walk all over the players. It’s kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. Agents are pure scum for the most part, but they do keep the teams in check. Face it, most of the players in the NFL are as dumb as a box of rocks. Can you imagine them trying to cut a deal and read the fine print of a contract?
I would say they should get a lawyer, but lawyers are pretty much the same kind of blood sucking scumbags the agents are.
He was “the Crabs” to pull “a Culpepper” and create “a raging Jalapeno”.
Mmmm. Tell me again how it’s the Raiders fault
that he’s holding out…
Based on, as ALWAYS…
Conjecture and nonsence.
Your spewing napalm is a joke…Whiners…Et al.
And again/as always…. there’s no such thing as NinerNation…ChiefNation…Ect..Ect..
RAIDER NATION.
Um, embarassing that I have to clue you in on this one, but it was a joke. Tongue and cheek. Crabtree was taped before the draft. Lou (espn) is mocking Crabtree and Parker.
LOLou
Any chance we can stop talking about this dude anytime soon?? What a joke. Who the hell cares?
Well thats why he is not an agent? Crabtree is sitting there thinking he is going to win this one. And he is not? Not if Singletary has anything to say about it? Crabtree is already forgot about. Yes they lost a pick, but they beat the Cardinals?
You know, we always assumed that Lou Holtz overcame his thufferin’ thuccotash thpeaking thtyle by conveying through the thpittle true pearlth of withdom.
The above sentence fully illustrates why Florio and his style will be popular and NBC will continue to play him far more than he is worth, but he fails journalism 101 (while taking others to task) and remains a well paid blogger with limited integrity and unlimited bias and arrogance.
Lou is right in a way, assuming the teams stick with a slotted system in terms of offers, then what are the agents good for? If the agent can’t somehow earn his pay (i.e. make the contract worth more $$ than it would be if the player took a slotted deal), then the agent is essentially a big waste of money.
I don’t like Lou but actually and I hate to say this but he is somewhat right, is he not. Parker is tanking this thing and Crabtree is either unable or unwilling to assert his rights to drive this trainwreck of a negotiation which may be too late to salvage at this point.
Suppose that in this scenario Crabtree is open to the contract on the table and Parker is saying no. He is now risking a 6th round pick or worse. He is not even standing on principles but the fantasy of a projected higher pick that didn’t occur. The stupidity of some of these NFL players is astounding.
Too bad the video is all in jest and nothing to do with the actual rules of contract negotiations.
And crazy as Lou is, he is right! Crazy man won at Notre Dame and was the last one to do so. The current jerk won’t be able to do so. As for craptree, he will let his “friends” convince him that he will get a better deal by reentering the draft next year. It will cost him millions to do so.
It is pretty simple…he either signs the deal now, or wait a year and get a lot less money then offered this year, and deal with a lot of pressure that will be put upon him as the end of the 1st rd pick/2nd rd pick….it’s Crabtree’s call…
Wow. Yeah. Lou Holtz doesn’t know the NFL to the degree Florio does. He should feel good about that except Lou Holtz was never an NFL coach and is a college football analyst. This post is pathetic.
The WWL is the best thing and the worse thing for sports.
But this is the one of the dumbest freaking things we’ve ever heard.
Oh come on Florio you read your own stuff before you post it don’t you?
Poor baby hurt his feelings he wasnt drafted higher. Get over it and sign you are still making more than most. Poor way to start your nfl career maybe Mangina wasnt wrong in his evaluation.
The Crabtree bit was filmed before the draft. The footage was used with the new segment for “Dr. Lou”.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the current situation. It is just luck on ESPNs part that this transpired as it did.
Matt Maiocco and many others made the same mistake at first. This was a tongue and cheek type bit.
JQ
> Apart from the obvious violations that the agent would be committing as to the rules limiting the fee to a maximum of three percent of the total value of the deal,
I fail to see any “obvious violations”.
50 % of “anything more that the agent can get” may be less than 3 % of the total deal.
stroke the guys ego and add another 3 mill guarantee. I say 24 mill over 5 years with 19 mill for sure should get his name on the dotted line. Fact is he will prove to be more of wideout than DHB. Not this year but in due time. Even throw in a few DHB related incentives. Let him prove that he is the best wideout out of the draft like he think he is and pay him for his proof….
stroke the guys ego and add another 3 mill guarantee. I say 24 mill over 5 years with 19 mill for sure should get his name on the dotted line. Fact is he will prove to be more of wideout than DHB. Not this year but in due time. Even throw in a few DHB related incentives. Let him prove that he is the best wideout out of the draft like he think he is and pay him for his proof….
stroke the guys ego and add another 3 mill guarantee. I say 24 mill over 5 years with 19 mill for sure should get his name on the dotted line. Fact is he will prove to be more of wideout than DHB. Not this year but in due time. Even throw in a few DHB related incentives. Let him prove that he is the best wideout out of the draft like he think he is and pay him for his proof….
stroke the guys ego and add another 3 mill guarantee. I say 24 mill over 5 years with 19 mill for sure should get his name on the dotted line. Fact is he will prove to be more of wideout than DHB. Not this year but in due time. Even throw in a few DHB related incentives. Let him prove that he is the best wideout out of the draft like he think he is and pay him for his proof….
To further clairify, realize that the taping of Crabtree asking that question was taped in April.
He’s been in hiding for awhile now.
Mike Florio writes…
“But this is the one of the dumbest freaking things we’ve ever heard.”
================================================
Not as dumb as your explanation of the Louis Murphy call.
This was aired on Thursday and you guys are just now posting something about this? Late much? Better than never I suppose.
Perhaps Lou didn’t think the last half through. He is absolutely correct to tell him his agent works for him, but I hope they stop asking him things like this. Seeing him go senile isn’t my idea of entertainment.
Also, after listing to Crabtree’s relatives spout off, Crabree himself must need his head deflated.
Lay off Lou Holtz.
He can kick all your asses.
I vaguely recall this site complaining about how arrogant and smarmy John Clayton was . . .
Alright, not looking at what the rules are, and purely looking at what the rules should be….
I think players should represent themselves. I mean, this first contract is pretty simple to figure out (slotted), and by the time it comes time to sign another contract, you’ll have been around a while to know how it goes.
Honestly, most of these guys graduate from college, how hard is it to take your fair pay and sign the contract. There are players that have done it and been just fine.
At the end of the day, I feel like agents only inflate the outrageous contracts that these rookies get.
Now, real world talk…
Agents keep players from getting ripped off; but seriously, how smart do you have to be to do some research on what other players at your position and with your skill level make?
Just seems like the agents ride the coat-tails of these players and make everything a little more complicated than it needs to be.
Yes and if I ever get arrested I will fight it on my own and then after I am found guilty I will hire a lawyer and tell them that I will pay them based on how much they get my sentence lowered.
On the other hand I get it. Kids can be manipulated by these agents. The agents get next years clients based on how well they do this year.
yeahhh i dunno what kind of contract Parker has with Crabz, but he needs to fire that prick and sign with SF ASAP.
for his sake I hope their offer hasn’t been slashed yet.
for common decency’s sake (and to send a message to arrogant rookies and the scheming agents stoking the fire) I hope it has.
Holtz lost his mind a while ago. I determined that three years ago when I listened to him constantly refer to the Navy Spread Option offense as ‘the wishbone’ .
Crabtree is the moron here. Why any team would draft him in the first round in 2010 is beyond me.
Lou Holtz is just another moron windbag that is a known name. He fits in perfectly with the ESPN dipshit empire.
I’m not so sure that Lou is out to lunch completely on this one. It depends upon the athlete and the owner. In several sports, high profile players have negotiated their own deals. In the NHL, Alexander Ovechkin negotiated on his own to become one of the highest paid players in the league. So, it depends.
While I agree that a player should get the best deal he can, an agent does a player no good by holding him out into the season. Crabtree will now lose millions, lose respect by the fans, lose (likely now) a year’s worth of pay, lose any benefit of the doubt by ownership and put undue pressure on himself when he finally does sign. All because an agent has pushed the envelope too far.
When I look at baseball and football, as a fan, I loathe agents. They drive up ticket prices to a point where fans can no longer afford to take their family to a game without taking out a second mortgage. And the cycle drives ever higher prices. Lou might be on to something, because at some point, you tip beyond your fan base with demands for payment. The NHL had to shut down for a year to bring salaries under control and force agents/players to accept realistic compensation.
Crabtree should dump Parker at this point and have a sit-down with the 49ers. Lay the blame on his agent and start fresh with the organization. Once he has signed his contract, he can hire an agent to help him with endorsements, business issues etc. Let the agent earn his money off of something productive that HE has done, not off the prior performance of Crabtree.
Lou Holtz is crazier than shit house rat, I have never understood how he ended up in front of a camera doing football commentary. This should pretty much put an end to it.
holtz is dead on about the agent-he is not out for crabtree’s best interests, and is ultimately hurting himself since he won’t get a lot of money when crabtree signs for a 12 million dollar deal next year.
obviously his idea doesn’t fit the nfl business model-but it’s not a bad way of thinking as far the way things SHOULD work.
They should take lawyers out of the game entirely, but at the very least the rookie pool.
As someone who practiced law, and has many close friends that still do, i can tell you that the only purpose of the legal profession is create and manipulate texts for personal gain. There is no wider sense of person or responsibility involved.
Lawyers are very good and turning things into shit and then making money off of them. Like a used car salesman with an advanced degree.
His agent is a fool, and I don’t think Crabtree is far behind. WHen you look at the probabilities, every day he holds out he is likely to earn LESS money, not more. He was picked where he was picked, and trying to make the money equal to a higher pick is just not likely to happen. This isn’t the Raiders!
He could be making millions right now. At any rate he will be making more than enough money to secure his life and that of his family. He is an untested Rookie, and is showing the world, and more importantly, NFL teams, that his primary concern is money. Perhaps he is afraid that he can not compete at the NFL level, and is therefore trying to maximize his money now. Perhaps he is one of those players that simply stop trying once they get the big contract, so he is trying to get as much money as possible, because he simply doesn’t want to put in the work needed to play the NFL at a high level.
Whatever the cause, his team isn’t likely to fold and give him what he wants. In fact, they are likely to offer him less than they would have. Re-entering the draft is also unlikely to get him more money. Teams will be gun shy about drafting this guy because of his attitude and the questions they raise, not to mention the fact that he will have been away from the field for a year. So he will likely be drafted at a lower place next year, if at all.
He is ruining his chance at securing his future and making millions to play. If he were smart, he would take as much as he can right now, for as short a term as he can get, prove he can play at a high level, and get the super pay day when his contract is up for renewal. Come this time next year he may find himself working at a fast food chain if he keeps this up.
Lou needs to go!!! He is Awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not and will not watch ESPN College coverage when he is on!
( I disagree with Floria here but first I should point out two facts regarding my stance.
1) I’m not a lawyer
2) I’m for the abolition of all lawyers. Or at least most of them, preferably through some stoning ritual involving really large rocks.)
Funniest thing I read all week!
Please dont be too hard on Holtz, he is the only talking head on ESPN that makes me cringe and at the same time I cant keep my eyes off him like a train wreck.
Love him or hate him. Tough to deny that Dr. Lou gets your attention. Hey, there’s no right or wrong here, it’s combustion engineering – firing up the flames.
I could care less if he signs with the 49ers, I could care less if he signs with any other team in the league.
BUT
I am going to laugh my ass off IF he actually gets more money re-entering the draft!
Everyone thinks that he will be drafted much later and make less money.
What I think, is he may hold out until the next draft, skip the draft and sign as an un-drafted player. That may be the only way he’s going to make “top pick” money. Either way he has to wait until March, before he can prove his “talent” to any team.
Crabtree is still a little punk bitch in my opinion, and like I’ve said many times before… I can’t wait for him to get in the league and get his head smashed by REAL players. This kid has a bullseye on his forehead, and the big boys out there are HUNGRY!
Let’s face the truth.
At the end of the day whatever one says about Dr. Lou is irrelevant. Crabtree is an idiot and he’s losing what he desires more than anything right now….money. Every week he let’s his agent hold him out for more money, he loses more money.
The stupitidy is, well, dumbfounding. He also looks like a prima dona. He can get over that stigma if he performs well when he does eventually sign. But it’s time to drop the pride and get to SF so you can play some ball. BTW, I hate the 49′ers. I just love football and the NFL and hate to see talent wasted.
> What I think, is he may hold out until the next draft, skip the draft and sign as an un-drafted player.
He cannot skip the draft. If he does not sign earlier he will be available in the draft. If no team picks him he’ll become a free agent.
Crabtree will brake every crying record set by Dick Vermeil if he plays for Mike Singletary.
I think he is soft and doesn’t want to play for that hard ass coach and get shown crying on TV every Sunday.
I am a Raider fan and I dont like the 49ers but I live here so I know all about them and one thing I know is Singletary is not soft on his players they were wearing pads day one in training camp hitting people.
You can not be soft and make that team try the Chargers they like soft players (LT).
Crabtree is his own idiot. I don’t see why you had to drag Lou Holtz down. He is entitled to his opinion and didn’t say anything so bad. Crabtree got allot of advice from many people. He would be playing now if he asked people who had some common sence first….
“When I look at baseball and football, as a fan, I loathe agents. They drive up ticket prices to a point where fans can no longer afford to take their family to a game without taking out a second mortgage.”
I have yet to attend a Regular season NFL game because it is a luxury which I am currently unable to afford. I watch the games on the internet and television.
But with that being said….
The agent nor the players drive up the ticket prices. The owners raise ticket prices based on the what the market will bare. The owners do it because they know people will pay for it regardless. Owner A does not have to pay Player B but if Player B because available then you can be assured that Team C will sign the Player B to prevent Owner D from doing the same.
It’s amazing how the public takes the sides of the billionaire owners over the millionaire players. Sure the owner is looking out for the fans and these mean players are holding the owners and the fans hostage. That why the Cowboys are worth 1.65 billion and their payroll is in the millions annually.
Wait I think may have a reason as to why the fans takes the owner’s side. “Jealousy and Envy” people. Some fans believe that because they played sports in high school,college, or in a recreation league that they could play professional sports. The answer to this is “No you could not play professional sports because if you could you would already be doing it or trying to do it”. Stop blaming the player contracts as the reason for ticket prices going up and put the blame on the fact that costs money to make money. Owning a sports franchise is a luxury expense. Most NFL owners make their money in other areas of business. The chance to become a professional athlete is greater than becoming an owner of a professional franchise due to the number of slots available for the two. Even the highest paid player will not make enough money during a career (for ex. 20 yrs. max must players will not even reach 5 yrs.) to become a sole owner of an NFL franchise. Even some owners can afford to without having co-owners. So why are fans against the working classing player. The NFL is a name the players are the product. If you have a name but no product then you just have an idea. What’s an idea without products or services? It’s not money at least in the world of business.
Maybe some fans would like to see the players make 50,000 a year like the supposedly good old days. An d when the owner’s raise ticket prices because of the economy and the need to make more money. Then the fans can’t blame the players nor the agents for that. I suppose if this were the case there would be less jealousy towards the players for fans. But I doubt that the owner’s would be giving away those millions saved back to the public. It would be a nice jester but unfortunately the world still revolves around money and power. Until that changes the players are right to ask for as much as the market will bare because the owners are.
Daunte Culpepper does not employ an agent and oversees and approves all of his own contract language – ask him how that’s worked out.
Meanwhile Crabass will re-enter the draft next year without any guarantees and I can’t wait to laugh my ass off during next year’s draft as he slides into the second round and receives a signing bonus check MUCH smaller than what he should have already accepted. That’s must-see TV!